


This is Us

by Person101



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, brothers best friend type thing, or older brother of my best friend type thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 10:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14788889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Person101/pseuds/Person101
Summary: (the title has nothing to do with the show This is Us)I'm really bad at summaries but...Mark falls in love with his brothers best friend when he comes to live with him in Toronto :)





	This is Us

‘How could someone be so beautiful?’ Thought Mark, ‘He’s so pretty’. Renjun sat on their shared couch on his computer, furiously typing his overdue artistic intention. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and his glasses on the tip of his nose. His hair (that has not seen a hair brush in weeks) puffing around his head like a halo. And some would say he looked a little bit psycho, but Mark would say he looked perfect.

He never thought that he’d ever think that of his baby brothers best friend. If you asked him what he thought of Renjun 3 years ago, he would have said that he’s just his brothers friend that was always around for some reason, but if you ask him that question now, he could go on for hours talking about his eyes and how much he loves sitting in the living room as he watches him play overwatch with his tiny little hands playing with the fabric of his sweater and how he always seems to make shit up, but still sound so convincing, and how cute he is when he gets mad just because he’s just so freakin’ short-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It all started in his 3rd year in University of Toronto, when he gets a text from his brother saying that Renjun was going to OCAD and that he needed a place to stay the first few months for reasons that Mark couldn’t remember at this point. All he understood was that Renjun was going to be his first (and only) roommate.

He couldn’t say that he was thrilled, he was a boy, he was messy. He always forgot to do the laundry, never washed the dishes, and was barely even in his apartment, since he preferred the comfort of the library where he did most of his studies. But it was a favor and Renjun was someone he would never reject, because he felt so much like his brother, he’d feel so bad. So, he agreed.

Two weeks later he found himself at the airport looking for Renjun’s blonde hair in the crowd. “Why the fuck is he so short?” Mark muttered as he started to walk around looking for him. And when he found him, he couldn’t do anything but laugh. He was standing in the middle of the airport, his bag on the floor, his suitcase also on the floor as he stood over it and seemed to be looking for something, or someone. Mark, being someone with a sense of humor went up behind him and-” BOO!”, poor Renjun screamed as he fell backwards, landing on his butt and frantically looking around for the source, and the moment he saw it was Mark, he felt the anger seep out of his “Mark! What the hell?!”, all he could do was laugh at his, he was just so small and mad a-and cute! Wait no! Not cute, he wasn’t cute.

After his last thought, his laughter died down and he just stared at his blankly, and he saw Renjun squirm in his place as he looked on. “So...umm.wh-where’s the-umm-the exit?” he quietly asked as he picked up his (really heavy) bag, this snapped him out of his daze as he started to walk ahead of his and towards the exit.

He could hear his struggling to catch up with him, since he was practically speed walking to the door and he was just so small. After he heard his drop his bag for the 3rd time, he felt bad, so he stopped walking and went to take both of Renjun’s bags with him.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car ride was uneventful, Renjun just sat there with his headphones on and stared out the window at the nice trees and just looking out the window. And for some reason Mark couldn’t stop glancing in his direction the entire time, he doesn’t know what it is, but he just couldn’t stop thinking of his and how the light from the window is complimenting his skin in just the right way, well that’s how he’d justify his starring now, but back then he just didn’t know why.

When he finally arrived at his apartment, then helped Renjun unload his single bag, and told him his apartment number and gave Renjun the keys and told him to go ahead of him.

 

When he finally arrived up the stairs carrying his bag and dragging it into his very messy living room. He started walking to the kitchen to get himself some water when he heard a crash coming from his room. He rushed into his room, only to find Renjun staring at the floor, seeming to be on the verge of tears,”I-I was just tr-trying to look at the pictures a-and it just f-fell. I’m sorry, I can buy you a new one. I’m so sorry.” He said defeatedly as he kneeled on the floor and started to pick up the shards of glass off the floor. Mark’s older brother instincts came in and he stopped Renjun from picking up the pieces, “Don’t pick them up, you’ll cut yourself. And honestly don’t worry about it it’s just a photo frame, didn’t even cost that much. Now you’ve been travelling for like 27 hours, go take a shower and sleep. I’ll wake you up when dinner’s ready,” picking up the picture and placing it on the side, he saw Renjun hesitate, ”GO!” with that Renjun scurried off into the bathroom, after quickly grabbing his bags, and moments later, the sound of the water running in the bathroom.

Almost 2 hours later, Mark remembered that he had to actually order the food. He ended up ordering sushi for Renjun and pizza for himself. And in the special request sections he asked them to quietly knock the door, he didn’t want to wake Renjun up. And soon after the food arrived. He set up the tiny table in his kitchen, opened his Netflix account and went to Renjun’s door to wake him up. He gently knocked, scared that he was already awake, but didn’t get a response. He knocked again, harder this time. He still didn’t answer. He knocked a third time, even harder. He still didn’t answer. So he took initiative, and opened the door, to find him cuddled under the sheets, his glasses askew on his nose, a book laying on his stomach, his hair, now dry, was a curly mess and he just stared. That was the third time on that day, he felt weird about him and he didn’t know why.

He snapped out of his daze and went to wake him up, gently shaking his shoulder. Renjun shook off Mark’s hand and mumbled something muffled by the comforter. So he took off the blanket to wake him up, and he just lay there, asleep, in blue pajama pants and a shirt that was at least 7 times his size and hung over his frame like a dress. Slowly he started to put the cover back on for him, “okay, okay I'll wake you up in 20 minutes, but you better wake up when I come in again”, and just like that he left again. 

When he went back almost an hour later to wake him up, Renjun was in the same position he was in when Mark left him, curled up. This time he woke up and got so excited that he remembered that he wanted sushi. But quickly ate and went to call his parents.

And that how the spent the next week, Mark going to the library every morning for almost 10 hours before getting home and finding Renjun either still asleep or drawing something. And then Renjun would spend the night working on his drawing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

But then Renjun’s first day came. And for some reason a stressed Renjun, was a cute one. He was fussing, making sure his computer was charged and that he had his charger in case. Made sure he has a pen and a notebook. Making sure that his shirt wasn't wrinkled and that his jeans weren’t too ripped and- yeah you get the gist.

Mark was confused though. Why was he so nervous? like yeah, it was his first day at university, but he should calm down, so he dropped Renjun off at his first History of Art class and left him there with an awkward pat on his shoulder. 

And that’s kind of how the first 2 months were like, Mark taking Renjun to all his classes and him never remembering where the classes were.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

But as time went on, Renjun started remembering his classes locations, and Mark no longer needed to take Renjun to his classes and that kind of ended all their contact with each other because Mark was always in the library studying and Renjun was always either drawing something, editing something or writing artistic intentions or essays about the different techniques of art and different artists. But the point is, they stopped seeing each other and for some reason that bothered Mark a lot more than he thought it would.

One day, Mark was going home after studying for an exam he had coming up soon, he walked by Renjun sketching the landscape on the roof, he was leaning over one side and slowly moving the mencil in his hand from left to right and he just stood there and stared at him. Renjun’s hair was in his face, but he looked like he didn’t care at that moment, his face was contorted in concentration as he slowly and steadily moved the pencil on the paper, his glasses on the top of his head, as a makeshift headband. And for some reason, he couldn’t stop staring at him.

Mark didn’t know what had gotten into him, but he just couldn’t look away, but sadly, he teared his eyes away from Renjun when his eyes started to dry up from staring too hard, and that’s when he realized that he had been staring at his way too long for it to be normal and he just hoped that no one was there to witness what had just happened. 

He didn’t go back to his apartment that night. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Did he like him? Was it just a phase? What’s wrong with him? What had gotten into him?  
Mark has been thinking of Renjun a lot more than he should have. Staring at his when he’s working on their couch. Secretly looking for him in the library. Starting conversation with his every time he ordered food. Thinking about him in class. It’s gotten so far that he’s started unconsciously writing raps inspired by Renjun his in the margins of his notebook and in his business class. What was wrong w-

“Mark? I have a very important question to ask you”

“Yes”

“Can I stay in your dorm for another semester? I know I said it was only for the first semester, but it seems like that isn’t going to work, I’m sorry, if you don’t want me to stay, I’m sure I can find a place….”

For some reason, Mark didn’t like the idea of Renjun being too far from him, he’s gotten used to making sure he got home every night. He felt like he was his responsibility.

“N-No, umm.. You can stay, I wasn’t really expecting you to go and live by yourself after only being here for 4 months. You can stay right here, in this house, for as long as you need to. I’ll take care of you” He said patting his, chest. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The first time Mark thought of Renjun in a less than platonic way, is when he wrote lyrics in his notebook by accident and only realized it was about Renjun when he was done, his lyrics went to explain how nice he looks, and how he makes butterflies erupt in his stomach and how he loves the softness of his hair 

 

It got so bad that his friends have noticed his change in everything. Lucas, one of his closest friends, literally told him that Renjun had him wrapped around his finger. He was smitten with him.

And a few months later he made the decision, he had a crush on his brothers best friend. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Living with your crush isn’t something easy. You see them all the time, in their worst state and for some reason still think that they’re a potential lover. Renjun wasn’t really a messy person when it came down to personal hygiene and making sure that he kept his mess in his room. He did the dishes, his own laundry and made sure to prepare a small breakfast for Mark before he left the house every morning. 

They had developed a system in which Mark was in charge of dinner and Renjun was in charge of breakfast. Usually, Mark would just order food, Pizza, Sushi, Chinese, everything. But today, Mark wanted to make dinner, not for anything, but like Mark feels bad because Renjun always makes him breakfast, he doesn’t ever order something. He puts effort. 

Renjun had a late-night film class, giving Mark enough time to try and make something for his. He then started searching for a relatively easy recipe and found what sounded the easiest --- Lasagna. 

He did it the first time and failed. 

He did it the second time and failed. 

He did it the third time and came out with something that resembled Lasagna. 

Looking at the monstrosity, that kind of looked like cheese and meat, kind of. 

He sat on the couch turning on the T.V. so it doesn’t seem like he was waiting for him, but rather just casually sitting. 

Almost half an hour after, the sound of the door opening woke Mark up from his impromptu nap. 

Renjun came in, stumbling over his huge canvas, dropping his laptop and barely stopping his paintings from doing the same, and he very noisily landed on the hardwood floor, the sound of a thud and ,what seems like, several papers falling to the ground. 

When Mark went out into the hallway to see if everyone was okay, he found his frantically making sure that his painting was okay and that all the paintings were still in one piece. 

When he approached to help his pick his papers, he noticed the downcast look on Renjun’s face. 

“You okay?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine” 

“You don’t seem okay.”

“It’s just been a long day.”

“You wanna tell me about it? How about, you go change into your PJs and then we’ll talk about it when over the dinner table, I made lasagna.” Said Mark Smiling. 

“You made dinner? You didn’t order it? I’m impressed.”

“ just go.”

And with that Renjun scurried off carrying his camera close to his with one hand, and the other was gripping his canvas. Mark stared after him with a dazed look on his face, how is someone so small capable of making me feel so much?


End file.
